Transparent huge pages merged in Linux 2.6.38

[UncombedCoconut]

This news is almost 2 months old, but I just noticed it. It seems very relevant for CC programs. If I'm not missing something: It now makes sense for engines always to request huge pages on Linux. More importantly, it makes sense for testers and developers to disable the feature via sysfs before running test matches, to avoid situations where the kernel only gives one player huge pages in a game.

On this subject, are there many other non-obvious pitfalls for testers? (Maybe this is a good time to start a CPW page on the subject.)

[rbarreira]

Very interesting, thanks for posting this.

[Gerd Isenberg]

This news is almost 2 months old, but I just noticed it. It seems very relevant for CC programs. If I'm not missing something: It now makes sense for engines always to request huge pages on Linux. More importantly, it makes sense for testers and developers to disable the feature via sysfs before running test matches, to avoid situations where the kernel only gives one player huge pages in a game.

On this subject, are there many other non-obvious pitfalls for testers? (Maybe this is a good time to start a CPW page on the subject.)

Thanks, so far I put some links under Memory - Huge Pages. Clearly deserves an own page if more material e.g. code snippets for Linux/Windows is added.

[bob]

This news is almost 2 months old, but I just noticed it. It seems very relevant for CC programs. If I'm not missing something: It now makes sense for engines always to request huge pages on Linux. More importantly, it makes sense for testers and developers to disable the feature via sysfs before running test matches, to avoid situations where the kernel only gives one player huge pages in a game.

On this subject, are there many other non-obvious pitfalls for testers? (Maybe this is a good time to start a CPW page on the subject.)

Thanks, so far I put some links under Memory - Huge Pages. Clearly deserves an own page if more material e.g. code snippets for Linux/Windows is added.

The nice thing about the Linux kernel changes is that you don't have to do anything. You can suggest that huge pages will be good. Or you can suggest that normal pages are better. If you suggest nothing, it will figure it out although it might take a few seconds or even minutes to get it all worked out.

I had followed some of the discussions, and was hoping some of this would make it into the kernel. The linux approach makes perfect sense, since the automatic way is always the best way, as opposed to users having to do something unique in their code...

I'm going to install this on my laptop pretty quickly to see how it behaves...